The Rangers Are 11-10
/Back above .500, and in grand fashion.
- A.J. Griffin got the start tonight, and went 8 strong innings. He struck out 5 and walked 1 while giving up only a single run. That run could just as easily have been classified as unearned after Elvis Andrus failed to make a play on a sharp grounder by Mark Teixeira. All in all, fantastic start by Griffin, who earned a game score of 74. Great job, A.J.
- The offense, after scoring 5 runs in the previous four games, erupted tonight, putting up 10 runs. Elvis Andrus had himself a 3-hit night. Nomar Mazara, Ian Desmond, and Mitch Moreland each had 2-hit nights. All in all, it was a fun night to watch the Rangers.
- Interesting situation in the bottom of the 3rd inning that ended up leading to the big 5-run inning. With 2 outs in the inning, Mazara and Beltre had back-to-back hits, putting them on second and third base. With first base open, Joe Girardi elected to intentionally walk Prince Fielder. Fielder, of course, has been among the worst hitters in baseball this season, and his RE24 -- a run expectancy stat that looks at expected runs versus actual and accumulates throughout the season -- was -4.33. Ian Desmond came up next and drew an unintentional walk, then Mitch Moreland and Elvis Andrus followed with RBI hits of their own.
- Between the 5th and 8th innings, the Rangers put up another run in each inning, capped by Rougned Odor hitting a solo home run in the bottom of the 8th.
- Tony Barnette came in for the 9th inning and finished off the 10-1 victory, the largest scoring output of the season for Texas. They'll go for the series win tomorrow evening with Martin Perez on the mound against the Yankees and C.C. Sabathia.